


As the Phoenix Feather Fell Down

by TG_StarlightChronicles



Series: Starlight Chronicles [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27387016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TG_StarlightChronicles/pseuds/TG_StarlightChronicles
Summary: Admiral Fujita Diru and her crew set out on their first few missions with Starfleet's new flagship the USS Starlight NCC-90853, which is designed by her Captain - Fujita Diru - herself. However, things do not go nerly ss planned, and far more terror awaits the crew of the Starlight than just the death of a crewmember. This time, the entire United Federation of Planets might be at stake, and it is only just the beginning. And what about the Admiral herself?
Relationships: Delia Diru-Kirk/Siath Mithras, Fujita Diru/James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard/Beverly Crusher, William Riker/Deanna Troi
Series: Starlight Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000692





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually just my first draft, and it might include a lot of mistakes still. English is not my first language, but I tried! Apologies

_ITS FIERY FEATHER-FILLED WINGS set off against the dark blue sky, pushing higher and higher, souring through almost heavenly realms. The Phoenix flew as free as a cloud drippling along on a sunny summer evening, as free as a firefly in the night. It’s wings showed against the almost black sky, lighting up bright. Fire licked the feathers, but it did not roast them. The Phoenix was free, eternally free. Flying until the end of the world. No worries, no doubts; just a vast, new world, ready to be discovered._

_One feather dropped down, falling to the ground in slow, waltzing motions. Fire flamed from its side, colouring it in a reddish hue. It fell on the grassy ground, setting the green leaves on fire. The feather lay there, still, soon surrounded by a fire that spread endlessly throughout the plains. Soon, the whole grassland was covered by the hungry red flames, dissolving everything in its wake. Everything except that one feather. That one, lonely feather. The instigator of the fire, forever surrounded by the chaos and disaster it had created, forever doomed to watch the unwanted results of its own actions._


	2. Chapter 2

‘CAPTAIN’S LOG, STARDATE 58000.9. This is Admiral Fujita Diru, Captain of this ship, the USS _Starlight_ NCC-90853. We are about to leave on our maiden voyage – a trip from the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards to starbase 58 – to pick up our First Officer, Richard Dickson. To be honest, I’m excited. It took me four years to build and design this ship, and now she is finally finished. I feel honoured that Starfleet Command has accepted my request to captain the _starlight_ myself; I know it’s not usual for an admiral to be the captain of a starship. However, they know I have never been much for desk work.’

Admiral Fujita Diru stood up from her chair in her ready room on the _Starlight_.

‘Computer, end log.’

Fujita walked toward to the big glass windows behind her desk and glanced over at the red ball that hung in the vacuum in front of her. Mars. Fujita had spent the last two years at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, working on the _Starlight_ – though she had occasionally visited Starfleet Academy back on Earth’s San Francisco to teach classes. Before that, she had been stationed at Starfleet Headquarters and had been designing this ship with a group of skilled scientists and engineers. Now, the ship was done, and Fujita was happy to head back out into space. The freedom of the vast reaches of the black vacuum and all its his wonders had always been her home.

Fujita’s combadge chirped. _‘Admiral, we’re all set to go’,_ the mechanic voice of her Chief Engineer said. Fujita sighed but could not help a smile appearing on her face. She had always disliked being called Admiral, and hoped that her crew would quickly start to call her Captain.

‘I’m on my way to the Bridge’, Fujita responded to her officer. She thought back to when she had first met Ya’MogH Q’Ara, over ten years ago. Q’Ara had lived aboard Deep Space 9 back then, but she had been embittered, aggressive; as mixed race Bajoran, Cardassian and Klingon, she had felt left out and had often not been accepted. However, after Fujita had seen how smart and skilled the girl was – who was only thirteen at the time - and she had encouraged her to go to Starfleet Academy. And so Q’Ara had done. Now, eleven years and quite some trouble later, Q’Ara had become a mature and skilled woman, and Fujita was glad to have her on her crew as Chief Engineer. Fujita also knew that the woman still was not an easy person to be around, but so was she herself, and that was part of the reason why Fujita had requested the Engineer.

Fujita walked through the doors that separated her office from the Bridge, and looked around the command centre where her crew and that of Utopia Planitia Ship Yards were laying the last hand on her ship. Officers buzzed around the room, closing up deck plating, starting up panels and finding their positions. Fujita’s gaze hit the captain’s chair in the middle of the room, and she smiled.

‘Admiral, a voice beamed behind her, and Fujita turned around look at her Chief Security Officer.

‘B.J., can I help you with anything?’ she responded. She looked at the man in front of her. He was a big, muscular man with rough, pink-brownish fur covering his entire body. He was a fine example of the Lepori, the vaguely bunny-resembling species.

‘The _Starlight_ is ready for her first voyage, Admiral.’ His voice was deep but pleasant, and B.J. looked self-assure and relaxed. Fujita knew she had made the right choice to assign him as chief of Security.

‘Thank you Commander, please inform everyone to get to their stations.

The man walked away, leaving Fujita alone in front of her ready room’s doors. Fujita looked around the Bridge one more time, then walked over to her captain’s chair and sat down. She sighed happily. She had missed being a Captain. It had really always been the only thing that could satisfy her. It was something about the eternal feeling of anxiety and stress – in a weirdly pleasant way – and being the leader of so many people, that had always appealed to her.

‘Ensign Grajnor’, Fujita said to her Chief Navigator, ‘plot a course for starbase 58.’ The Bolian officer pushed a few buttons, and Fujita directed herself to her Helmsman. ‘Ensign Stacy, warp 6. Punch it.’

\---

Starbase 58 was located in the Oewiri system, orbiting Oewiri II. Oewiri II was a terraformed Human colony that had existed for about one and a half century. It was inhabited by a few thousand people and was a loved holiday planet – not as popular as Risa, of course, but it was still quite famous.

Why there was a starbase located next to this not very important planet, was something that had, for a long time, questioned quite a number of people. To be frank, no one was entirely sure. There was nothing much special about Oewiri II – besides the lovely climate and beaches – and it held no important strategic position. Many people guessed that the only reason for starbase 58 was of a more personal matter; even Starfleet officers appreciated a nice holiday from time to time.

Fujita knew that this theory was not completely true, though it _was_ a convenient advantage. The real reason was, that – at the time that the starbase was built – this planet held an important position for Starfleet Intelligence. However, even Fujita did not know the full extent of the story.

Fujita had just been transported to the starbase. She was walking through the big white corridors and looked at the stars that shone through the enormous windows. She could see Orion on the far left – shining as bright as ever – and the binary stars of the fiery Ewylk system somewhere in the middle. At the bottom of the window, the Admiral could make out a small part of the northern pole of Oewiri II. Her eyes scanned the entire length of the hallway and eventually found the light brown door at the far end. She walked toward it, absorbing the plain sight of the metal walls at her sides.

When Fujita reached the door, it opened automatically and revealed the room inside. The room looked somewhat like a mess hall with small metal tables and chairs. However, the room was empty and she could not see any replicators. The purpose of the hall was not clear to her.

Suddenly, Fujita realized that the room was not actually empty. When the Admiral had come through the doors, a man had stood up from a table in the back of the room. He walked over to Fujita, circling the tables and chair that were scattered around, and stuck out his hand.

‘I’m Commander Richard John Dickson’, he said, while Fujita took his hand and shook it. Fujita scanned her First Officer’s face. Her eyes slit over his face with his dark hazel eyes and his greying hair, then down to his grey-red-and-black Command uniform. The man looked quite formidable. Not exactly intimidating as much as commanding, but definitely strong. She noticed the determined look in his eyes, a look she liked.

‘Admiral Fujita Diru, nice to meet you.’

‘Can I offer you a drink? Commander Dickson asked.

‘Oh, no thanks. I’m good’ Fujita answered. ‘We’d better get to the _Starlight_.’

Dickson nodded in agreement, and Fujita tapped her combadge. ‘Fujita to the _Starlight_ , two to beam up.’

\---

Commander Dickson had only been on board for a few hours when he and Fujita had gotten in their first of many arguments. Fujita had wanted to stay at Oewiri II for a day or so longer, since they did not have a mission yet at the moment. Dickson had used his right as First Officer to make an objection and had said that they needed to return to Earth, as they had been told to do by Starfleet Command.

‘They won’t mind’, Fujita had said. ‘We don’t have anything to do anyway. We can better give the crew as much free time as possible now we still can, because we never know when their next moment off might be.’

‘Admiral, Commander Dickson had stated, ignoring Fujitans wishes to be addressed as Captain rather than as Admiral – it made her feel as if her crew viewed her as more than them, a feeling she did not enjoy.

‘That was not the arrangement we made with Starfleet Command. They expect us back’, Dickson had continued,

Fujita had sighed. ‘I can contact them in a minute, tell them we’ll be over in a day or two.’

In the end, Dickson had given in and had left Fujita’s ready room. Fujita had sat down behind the chair at her desk. Had she made the right choice to assign Dickson as Fist Officer? He had seemed like a capable officer. His record was exemplary, he had no notes of bad behaviour on his personnel file, and all his commanding officers had seemed pleased with him. Yet, she had only known him for a few hours and they had already had a disagreement about something so insignificant. _Oh well,_ Fujita had thought. _It’ll get better, we all have to settle in and find our pace._


	3. Chapter 3

IT DID NOT GET better. In the three months that followed, things only seemed to get worse. Dickson barely agreed with any of Fujita’s decisions, which did not only damage her authority, but also greatly pissed her off. She liked officers who had their own will, who dared to speak up to their Captain when they did not agree with them, who cared more about standing up for their believes than about how it might look on their record; however, this was really too much. It almost felt like Dickson was purposely looking for ways to oppose Fujita.

One time had been particularly bad. The _Starlight_ and it’s crew had been on a mission to the planet Ehrlu, to deliver medical supplies. On their way there, they had receiver a distress call from a Cardassian ship, which had been stranded just inside the Federation border. Dickson had wanted to ignore it and continue toward Ehrlu, knowing that – undoubtably – another ship would soon appear and help out the Cardassians. Fujita, however, had wanted to help and had put the _Starlight_ on a course toward the Cardassian border. However, before she had done so, Dickson had started another argument, and – already pissed off by hours of fighting in the past days – they had both barely been able to contain their anger and had retreated to Fujita’s ready room, where Fujita had had to use all her self-control not to shout at the man – something that never used to happen anymore.

Now, they were on their way to a starbase on the border of Federation space to pick up an officer. Starfleet Command had not been wanting to let off much, so Fujita expected that the man had something to do with Starfleet Intelligence or Covert Operations. The mission was to get as close to the space station as they possibly could without being detected – which Fujita found weird, considering that it was a Federation station – and beam out this officer of unknown identity with the least fuss possible.

‘Ensign Stacy, full stop’, Fujita said, and the starship came to a halt. The starbase was just visible on the far right side of the screen, lighting up bright in the infinite darkness of the vast reaches of space that surrounded them.

‘Commander B.J., have they detected us?’

‘No signs of elevated activity, Admiral. It does not seem they have.’

Fujita shifted in her chair and drew her hand through her brown ponytail. ‘Mister Tremeni, can you detect the officer?’

‘I’m scanning, sir’, the Chief of Operations answered. Fujita looked around and saw the Indian man viciously pushing buttons on his ops panel. ‘I’m not picking up any Human life signs.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Admiral!’ B.J. bellowed before Tremeni could answer. ‘Two ships are closing in on starboard, one of them is right on our tail!’

‘Who are they?’ Fujita asked, making sure she carefully hid her surprise.

‘Unknown, sir,’ B.J answered, and as he said it, three ships entered in vision range. They have locked their weapons on us.’

‘Shields up, red alert.’ The emergency claxon instantly started blaring on the Bridge and the lighting changed to red.

‘Should I fire, sir?’ B.J. asked.

Fujita shook her head. ‘Let’s take a moment to see what they want, they might be just as threatened with our arrival as we are with theirs. Hail them.’

B.J. pushed a few buttons, but before he could respond, the Bridge erupted in flames. The sound of shouting people filled the room and threw it into chaos. Panels exploded and the severe rocking of the ship threw more than one officer helplessly flying about. In the middle of all of it, Admiral Fujita had to stay calm and focussed on her job.

‘B.J., status!’ she shouted.

It stayed silent for a moment, and then B.J called out, ‘Shields are at eighty-six percent and dropping!’

‘Lock on phasers and fire.’

Fujita heard the familiar sound of phaser blasts, and for a moment the Bridge fell into relative peace, with their enemies not firing back. The Admiral sighed sunken in thought. She had to find a way to get out of there with her ship and crew intact – losing any crew members after just three months of being the captain was just not an option. Pulling that off, however, seemed far from easy.

Suddenly, Fujita’s mind became quiet. She shut out every sound that was coming from the chaotic Bridge around her, and concentrated fully on the task that was ahead of her.

‘Evasive manoeuvres, pattern delta five,’ Fujita shouted over the sound of multiple explosions. ‘B.J., fire at will. We have to get out of here, and I don’t want this ship to get any more scratches than strictly necessary.’

‘Aye, sir,’ B.J. answered, concentrating on his controls.

After a minute or so, the Lepori officer grunted loudly, and Fujita saw one of the enemy ships burst into a ball of fire and smoke. _That was one down, just three more to go._

Suddenly, the ship jolted to the left, and Fujita watched as her helmsman got thrown into the air and his control panel exploded. An alarm started to blare. She ran toward the unconscious Lieutenant Stacy and stationed herself behind the starship’s controls. As she tried to steer her ship into a new set of evasive maneuvers, she realised what had happened. The starboard engine had been hit and was offline. Then, Fujita heard the turbolift doors slide open and turned around to see a cadet enter the Bridge, looking surprisingly calm. It was Bethany Jane-Rose – the only cadet among the crew, who had come aboard mere days ago.

‘Communications are offline, Captain,’ the girl said, as a way of explaining her unannounced presence on the Bridge. ‘The explosion of the starboard nacelle has damaged the containment field generators. Field integrity is at thirty-two percent and dropping. We’ll have a core breach in less than five minutes.’

The look on the Admiral’s face turned dark. She knew what this meant. They would have to eject the warp core in order to prevent the ship from exploding when the antimatter lost containment, but to do that in the middle of a battle was suicide. Though they would have auxiliary power, that would not be enough to sustain the ship during a fight of this intensity. They would be powerless. They would lose weapons and shields within minutes and would be a sitting duck.

‘We must evacuate the ship, now!’ First Officer Dickson had turned to Fujita, looking just as worried as she felt inside, but now he turned back to face the chief of operations. ‘Order everyone to the escape po–’

‘Belay that order. To leave would be suicide.’

‘So is staying!’

‘We’ve got to find a way to stop that core from breaching.’

‘I wouldn’t order an evacuation if there was a way to do so.’ Dickson looked angrily at his captain, who stared back, feeling just as annoyed as he looked.

‘Commander’, Fujita’s voice had dropped dangerously low. Her first officer had been challenging her command ever since they got on board, and she was growing sick of it. She wanted a bit of trust from the man who was supposed to be her right and. She was barely able to contain her annoyance, but was disciplined enough to know this wasn’t the time for a fight.

‘Stop arguing. I won’t abandon this ship. I won’t let this crew get killed. I _will_ find a way.’

If she hadn’t been the captain, and if she had trusted her first officer to take command, Fujita would now have rushed down to engineering to take care of the problem herself. But she knew she could not do that. She had to stay on the Bridge to command her vessel and guide her crew.

Suddenly, the Captain heard the unexpected chirping of her combadge, to then let through the agitated voice of her Chief Engineer.

_‘Admiral, we managed to get our communications back online, but we’ll have a core breach in less than three minutes. What are we going to do?’_

‘Q’Ara, is the warp core ejection system functional?’ Diru asked the woman.

‘Admiral, you just said we wouldn’t ejec–’

‘Commander, with all due respect, shut your bloody mouth!’ Fujita interrupted Dickson ‘I’m not planning on ejecting the warp core, I merely want to know if it would actually be an option.’

 _‘Negative, Admiral, the ejection system is offline’_ , Q’Ara said.

‘Bloody hell, of course it is! That thing doesn’t ever work when we need it.’

Fujita’s mind was racing, trying to find an answer to this daunting task. They seemed to be stuck in a no-win scenario. However – no matter how scary it might seem – it was a feeling she knew all too well. If she could not find a solution, hundreds of people, hundreds of _her_ crew, would be obliterated within minutes.

 _‘Admiral?’_ Ya’MogH was still waiting for her orders

‘Q’Ara, what is the containment field’s strength?’

_‘We’re down to nineteen percent.’_

‘Can we bypass the generator?’

_‘Negative, sir. I’ve already tried that, it won’t work.’_

Fujita knew that the crew members who were listening were becoming panicked, and she knew she was, too. They had to act, and fast. Slowly, a plan started forming in her head.

‘Admiral, field strength is down to eighteen percent. We can still evacuate’, Dickson continued to push his commanding officer.

‘I won’t evacuate!’ Fujita beamed one more time.

‘Don’t be selfish, we have to save the crew. ’

Fujita swiftly turned around and looked at the man besides her with an expression that could cut diamond. ‘Commander, either you’re gonna listen to me, or you're gonna leave the Bridge. Your choice. Now, Q’Ara, we have a ship to save.’

_‘Aye, sir!’_

‘We should be able to reconstruct a magnetic constrictor coil, could that repair the generator?’

_‘Yes, it could. If we use a reserve replicator coil and combine it with the–’_

‘Do it!’

 _‘Admiral, we could never replicate a coil that is configured the exact same way as the one we have. Technically we could align them, but I don’t know how.’_ Fujita heard the worry in her Chief Engineers voice.

‘I do!’ Fujita said agitatedly. ‘Commander, you have the bridge, I’ll be in Engineering.’ A nervous but mischievous grin appeared on the Admiral’s face, as she realised they might be able to save this ship. She could not help but be proud of her Chief Engineer, who seemingly had the same idea as she, and who knew what she was thinking without even saying it.

However, Dickson was – again – not satisfied. ‘Admiral, you can’t leave the Bridge during a fight.’

‘I know that, Commander, but I’m the only one who can align those coils.’ Fujita threw an annoyed look at Dickson once more, and then, barely audible, whispered, ‘I should really let them throw him in the Brig.’ Dickson heard her, however, and decided he could better shut his mouth for now. Then she said again, louder, ‘I thrust that you can manage the Bridge?’ Dickson nodded, after which Fujita quickly left.

\---

‘We’ve hit them, Admiral – a fatal hit. The ship's gone!’

‘Captain, they're retreating!’

‘We’ve won!’

Cheers of relieved officers filled the Bridge. Fujita looked up at the view screen, on which they could see their enemies retreating. A few minutes ago, she had come back from Engineering to find a perfectly calm Dickson fighting off the enemy ships with totally capable expertise. She had quickly taken over, but had seen that Dickson had managed fine without her. It seemed that the man only made the wrong decisions when Fujita was near. Maybe he was not all that bad. In any case, they had indeed won. They had beaten the enemy, they had avoided a core breach, she had even silenced Dickson – for now. Everyone had been saved.

‘You did a good job, everyone. I'm proud of you all.’ Fujita said, smiling. She was indeed proud of her crew. They had fought hard and worked even harder. Most of them were young, but every single one of them would have given their lives for their crewmates and for the Federation today. Despite of her problems with Dickson, even he had done a great job. He was smart, she could not deny that – even if he made the wrong decisions from time to time. He had done a good job while she was in Engineering, and she could not have missed him. Fujita had an amazing crew and she knew it.

‘Now, we have a mystery guy to find’, Fujita said, and she heard some grumbled acknowledgements.


	4. Chapter 4

STANDING INSIDE THE SMALL corridor, Christopher Anderson quickly put the missing panel back into the wall. As he let his isolinear chip slide into the pockets of his science uniform, he stealthily moved down the hallway, towards Engineering.

Christopher activated his life signs overlay, and – as he had expected – he could see a ghostly figure guarding the entrance to the engine room. After grabbing the phaser from the inside of his uniform, Christopher swiftly moved around the corner and silently shot the guard. The latter fell to the floor before even having had a chance to notice the intruder. Walking to the door that let to Engineering and stepping over the stunned enemy, Christopher took one of his photon grenades and set it to stun. He then manually opened the door, threw the grenade right in the middle of the power centre and stepped away from the entrance.

After seeing a faint flash of light – indicating that the grenade had gone off – Christopher went through the door and walked over to the panel controlling the shields. He then quickly turned on the panel and used it to cut off all power to the shields. ‘Athena, overload the circuits for me, will you?’ He silently watched his artificial assistant activated one of the special systems in Christopher’s uniform, and a visible electric burst went through the cabling of the panel. _No one will be powering those up again any time soon_ , Christopher thought. Knowing it would only be a matter of seconds before the place would go into red alert, he quickly activated his combadge. ‘One to beam up.’


	5. Chapter 5

‘ADMIRAL, I CAN’T GET a lock!’ Lieutenant Tremeni called out.

A small swarm of enemy ships had again surrounded the _Starlight_. They were small but incredibly swift, and Fujita did not recognize the design. The Admiral was still puzzled as to why they were even fighting these people, and how they could be here. The station was clearly Federation, no aliens – which they presumably were – should be here.

‘The station is sending out some kind of energy field that’s disrupting our sensors and transporter beams’, Tremeni continued.

‘I need you to be more precise, Lieutenant’, Fujita said.

‘I’m sorry Admiral, that’s all I can tell you. Sensors aren’t working.’

Fujita looked at the small screen next to her chair, trying to get clearer readings than her Chief of Operations could give her. However, she saw Tremeni was right. The sensors did not work.

‘We’ve got to send a shuttle.’ Dickson said after a moment of silence.

‘I know’, Diru responded softly. She looked at the view screen, considering what she had to do, and absentmindedly fiddled with the two golden rings on her necklace. She was fully aware that jewellery was forbidden by Starfleet regulations, however, she could not care less – as was her attitude toward Starfleet regulations more often. Were rules not meant to break? Alright, that was not entirely true, but some regulations were too useless to follow. Although she actually understood the logic of forbidding jewellery, but she was not about to admit that. The two rings on Fujita’s necklace were those of her and her James Kirk’s wedding. She had managed to get the one from her husband back after he had died, and was not about to ever let go of it.

Fujita knew sending a shuttle to the starbase was their only option to get the unknown passenger onto the ship, but she also knew the risk of doing just that. A shuttle was way more vulnerable to the hostile ships out there than the _Starlight_ was. But it was also less easily detectable and more maneuverable, two qualities they really needed right now. It was the only thing to do here.

‘I’ll go. Commander B.J., you’re with me. Prepare an away team.’ Fujita looked at her Security Officer, who obeyed her with a nod. However, Dickson interrupted her as she walked to the turbolift.

‘Admiral, you are not allowed to go on an away mission this dangerous.’

Fujita let out an annoyed sigh, but she knew he was right. Man, she hated it when he was right. She had known she could not leave, of course, but she also knew she was the best pilot on this ship, and a good pilot would undoubtably come handy.

‘Alright’, Fujita said. ‘Then you go, Commander. Take B.J., Stacy and two security officers with you. You might need the firepower, I am afraid.’

Without another word, the Commander walked off.

\---

The away team had arrived at the space station without too much trouble. They were standing in a darkened corridor. Dickson could not help but notice that the walls of the corridor consisted of a kind of plating that resembled fish or reptile scales, which at the same time vaguely looked like computer chips, as they were covered in angular lines. This was weird, considering that the station had looked completely like any other Federation one on the outside. The corridor looked more like the ships that had been attacking the Starlight.

The hallway seemed to stretch on forever, and disappeared with a slight curve into the darkness. Every now and then, they saw sharp red dots light up all over the walls, presumably from computer terminals or electronic circuits. For now, the corridor was quiet. Thanks to a diversion by the _Starlight_ , the away team had not been discovered.

While walking through the passageway, Dickson noticed that one of the computer terminals in the walls had been left on. The text on it was of a language he did not recognize. This confirmed their presumption that the space station was not – I fact – from the Federation, but supposedly from a species that hid behind a Federation mask I order not to be detected. But they could not worry about that now. They had to find the unidentified man they were ordered to pick up, and he had to be around here somewhere. And then they had to get the hell out of there.

Suddenly, Dickson froze in anguish. Without a warning, the corridor changed into a sea of big, red, flashing lights.

\---

Christopher Anderson let out a curse as the alarms started blaring around him. Apparently, the ship that had been sent to get him could not beam him up due to some hidden energy field surrounding the station. Instead, they were sending a shuttle to get him out. That meant he would have to fight his way through the station, though, which was not exactly his specialty.

 _Why can’t these things ever go according to plan?_ Christopher thought, while making his way back through the corridor he had entered through before. When he detected the life signs of two alien guards coming his way from a corridor on his side, he waited for them to come around the corner. Once they did, he immediately shot both of them.

Quickly, Christopher continued towards the coordinates he had been given of the ship’s away team, and he noticed a squadron of guards coming up behind him. Fortunately, he was prepared for situations like this. He installed a barely visible stun mine on the floor of the hallway and increased his pace even further. When he finally saw his pursuers, they fired multiple phaser shots at him, but they fortunately were not too accurate. It only took a few seconds before Christopher heard his stun mine activate, and the shooting ceased.

As his technical overlay detected new life signs right ahead of him, Christopher instinctively aimed his phaser at where they would immerge from the hallway momentarily. Just and instant from when he was about to pull the trigger, he realised that these life sign did not actually read as those of the alien guards. There were two humans, and one more person he could not quite make out the species of. Finally, he had reached the away team.

\---

Dickson and his team had been moving towards the position they had received of their target. Fortunately, even though the alarms were still sounding, they had not been discovered. The station’s security teams were apparently too occupied with their other intruder to notice them.

They had been carefully progressing through these unfamiliar corridors. At one point, they had spotted a lone guard who seemed to be patrolling an area of the ship. They managed to take a different route and avoid an encounter with him. Now, they were picking up human life signs, which meant they had to be close to their mysterious passenger. The life signs appeared to be only a few corridors ahead, so if they were lucky they could reach the man without encountering any other guards.

However, they were rather unlucky.

A phaser shot from behind them hit one of the security men right in the back of his head. Commander Dickson swiftly turned around, drew his own phaser and fired a shot. He missed. He saw three guards coming their way, all three of them carrying guns that looked a lot deadlier than Dickson felt comfortable with.

‘Why didn’t our sensors detect them?’ he whispered to B.J., who’s only response was to shoot at one of their enemies. The shot hit, and the man fell to the floor.

‘Now we’ve made them mad’, Stacy said.

Then all four of the officers attacked. 


	6. Chapter 6

THEY HAD BEEN ABLE to shake off most of the ships for the time being, without too much trouble. The _Starlight_ ’s shields were stable at forty-eight percent, by far enough to get out of there before the shields would give out.

‘Admiral’, Commander Tremeni chimed. ‘The shuttle just arrived in docking bay two.’

‘Fujita nodded and gestured for Ensign Reginold – who had replaced Ensign Stacy until he got back – to take off. ‘Get us out of here, Ensign’, she said. Fujita looked at the view screen and saw the vision of the stars being pulled apart into long lines, indicating that they had reached warp. Their mission was now to return the officer they picked up to Starfleet Command at Earth, a voyage that would take about a week – much shorter than it would have with any other ship, due to the _Starlight_ ’s new type of engines, which she had designed herself.

 _‘Captain’,_ her combadge suddenly chimed, and she im-mediately recognized the voice of her Chief Medical Officer.

‘Doctor McCoy, is something wrong?’

_‘You better get down here, sir.’_

Fujita knew that tone of voice. Something was indeed wrong. Very, very wrong. She got up from her chair and rushed down to sickbay.

\--

As soon as Fujita entered sickbay, Doctor Harold McCoy turned toward her.

‘Captain, I’m sorry’, he said.

A worried look had appeared on Fujita’s face. ‘What’s wrong?’

Suddenly Jason Stacy joined in, clearly sounding panicked. ‘We were nearly at the coordinates we had to go to, when he- when he was shot, and-‘

‘Ensign, calm down.’ Fujita had already guessed what was happening. ‘Where is the Commander?’ she asked, though she knew what the answer would be.

‘He was already dead when they got back’, McCoy said with a sigh. ‘I couldn’t safe him, I’m sorry.’

‘I’m sure you did everything you could, Doctor.’

‘There was nothing I _could_ do.’

Fujita sighed and tugged her uniform the way Picard always used to do on the _Enterprise_ – even though it was years since she served with Picard, she still had the habit that she copied from him. ‘I’ll inform his family.’ Fujita padded Ensign Stacy reassuringly on his shoulder and left sickbay.

Once she was outside, Fujita stopped and leaned against the wall. _Bloody hell_ ¸ she thought. Of course she had not liked the man, that was commonly known; yet she had not wished him dead. He was a capable officer, with any other captain he would even have been more than capable, in fact. He was just not the kind of officer _she_ got along with. Too strict, he followed the rules too precisely. She liked people who could improvise, who did not dare brake the rules if it was for something they truly believed in, yet who did not break rules just for the purpose of breaking them. She liked officers who had a mind of their own, instead of one that had been imposed on them by Starfleet.

‘Are you alright, madam?’

Fujita was startled when she heard the strange voice behind her, and turned around. She looked right into the face of an unfamiliar man wearing a grey, black and teal science uniform with command pips. His short blond hair danced as he came walking toward the Admiral.

‘My sincere apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you’, the man said.

‘Oh it’s quite alright’, Fujita responded, wondering who the man was. Could he be the officer they had just retrieved from the station? Probably.

The man stuck out his hand toward Fujita. ‘The name is Christopher John Dickson.’

Fujita took the hand and shook it. ‘Fujita Diru, pleased to meet you.’

‘I don’t mean to pry, but you seemed a tad preoccupied before’, Commander Anderson continued.

‘My first officer was killed during the away mission’, the Admiral said, while softly shaking her head.

‘Yes, I saw him getting shot. I’m truly sorry, it’s all my fault after all.’

Fujita pulled up an eyebrow. ‘By no means, why would you say that?’

‘Well, it way me you-‘

Fujita interrupted the man. ‘Commander, I won’t let you take the blame for this. It could have happened to everyone. We could have picked up anyone, and anyone could have been in the away team. It could just as well have been anyone else. It was just stupid, stupid bad luck that took a fine man and my first officer.’

Anderson nodded, but then the look in his eye changed. ‘Captain, I have a proposition to make. However, it might seem slightly out of the blue.

‘Go on’, Fujita said.

‘What would you say if I became your first officer?’

Fujita frowned for a moment but quickly recomposed herself. ‘What?’ she said, feeling at the same time puzzled and curious as to where this was coming from.

‘I finished my previous assignment, and it will be a while before I get another one. I have never before been the first officer of a starship, but it’s something I would love to experience. I promise you I’m a capable officer. I realize this must seem weird for you, considering that we only just met, but I’m sure Starfleet Command would see it as a great idea.’

Fujita drew her hand through her hair. ‘Well, I need some time to consider that. It’s a generous offer, but… it’s not something I can say just now.’

Anderson nodded. ‘Of course, madam, that’s understandable.’

‘Commander, has anyone showed you to your quarters yet?’

‘No.’

Fujita pushed herself off of the wall and gestured toward the corridor. ‘Let me lead you the way.’

\---

Fujita sat in her quarters with her dog Seyvah in her lap, drinking a hot cranberry coffee and reading a book her friend Admiral Kathryn Janeway had recommended a few weeks ago – _The Black Goose in a Pond of Stars_ by Amelia Smith, a fairly new author. It was about a teenage girl named Avalynn Higgins on twenty-first century Earth, who had just moved from the United Kingdom to the United states after her mother had passed away. She became friends with a highly educated and extremely enthusiastic young man, Alexander August Attorney, who had cancer and had only a few months left to live. However, Alexander had an extremely positive look on life, while Avalynn could be rather unsure at times. Alex showed Avalynn new views on society and the world in general, and the novel was very philosophical and emotional. It was not the kind of story Fujita usually read, but most of Kathryn’s recommendations turned out to be quite enjoyable. Besides that, Fujita found pleasure in reading about the young author’s views on life – particularly the early twenty-first century life, which, of course, had not been always been glamour and sunshine.

Something which had particularly gotten to Fujita was when the two young people, who soon become lovers, had had a conversation about Avalynn’s main fear. ‘It’s not failing which I fear’, the girl had said, ‘It’s succeeding and having no one that cares. What’s the point in inventing something if no one will ever notice? Then maybe there is a better way to help this world.’ Fujita felt like this was the case for many people. They did not as much fear that they would fail in what they wanted most. It was more of a fear that they _would_ do it, and that it would not make a change. That they _would_ do something great, invent something great, _be_ something great, and that there would be no one to praise them. No, it was not so much even about praise. It was more, like Avalynn had said, that people wanted to help the world in some way, but were afraid that this was not the right way.

However, Alex’s response might even have been more beautiful. ‘What does it matter if no one notices?’ he had told the young Avalynn. ‘ _You_ will notice, and that is all what matters. If you are doing something you genuinely care about, you will succeed. You will make it, make something great. And if you can make something once, you will always be sure that you can do something great again. And again. And at some point, you will have made so many fantastic things that there is no way for people _but_ to notice it. If you are just determined, if you just never give up, you will make a change. Maybe not instantly, maybe it will take years and years, but at some point you will have changed the world. Because you believed in something. And if _you_ can believe in it, and if _you_ can do it, then others can, too. Even if you’re not the one who makes a chance, then at least the fact that you exist is prove that there will once be someone else like you who _does_ make a change. All that matters is that you never give up. Ever.’

That had spoken to Fujita on a deep level. She knew that most people would have given up, if they would have lived the kind of live that Fujita herself had. But she did not. Sure, there were times when Fujita had had it rough, when she had not known how to continue. But giving up was just not an option. It was just not in Fujita’s nature. Giving up would not make anything better. She would always keep going, no matter how hard it got, because that is the only thing she _could_ do. And the same thing applied to Alexander. That he only had a few more months to live, did not mean that he would not live them to the fullest. He was determined to live a full lifetime in the eighteen years he had gotten.

However, this was not what Fujita was thinking about at this moment. She was considering the offer Commander Christopher Anderson had made a few house ago – to be their first officer. At first, Fujita had been doubtful. The man had said himself that he had never been the first officer of a ship before, he was unexperienced. But then Fujita had remembered the reason why she had requested so many young officers on the _Starlight_. You could shape them. They came fresh from the Academy, had not yet been influenced by previous services, experiences and commanding officers. They had yet to find their own way to work, their own vision of Starfleet regulations. It was – for Fujita – much easier to work with an officer like that, than if they had already been ‘shaped’, because their way of working would easily adapt to her own. She would not get officers who recklessly followed every single regulation, no matter the situation – the type of officer that Fujita could not stand.

Besides that, Fujita had also gotten to know Anderson a little in the time they had spent together while walking to the man’s temporary quarters and when they had had drinks once they had arrived there. The man seemed like a reasonable and nice guy. He was a bit different than most Starfleet Officers, which pleased Fujita. However, he also seemed determined and strong-willed, and not too serious, though serious enough. Maybe he _was_ a good choice. She would call Starfleet Command and find out what they thought of Anderson’s proposal.

When Fujita got up to send the message to Starfleet Command, she remembered the conversation she had had with Dickson’s wife, Marjah Dickson, earlier today. The woman had been devastated, of course, but she had stayed strong – at least as long as the call lasted. Fujita had wished Marjah a lot of strength and had promised to be present at the funeral of her late first officer, even though she had barely known the Commander and liked him even less. Marjah had seemed like a very sweet woman, and Fujita felt genuinely sorry for her. She knew what it felt like to lose your husband, after all.

About a half hour ago, Fujita had held a short memorial service for Commander Dickson, with everyone onboard the ship who had known him. They had cleared the Square, a bar in the front side of the ship – the bartender Kenna McIntyre had given it this name, as a reference to some kind of "gay bar" on Earth a few centuries ago – to create space for anyone who wanted to attend. There had been about twenty people – most of the crew had not had time to get to know Dickson in the short three months they had served together. Fujita had spoken for a few minutes, telling a few of the better anecdotes of the man, and then they had all had a drink. She had not held up any fake impressions of how much she had liked the man, they all knew she had not been able to stand him. However, she had been respectful enough to admit that the Commander had been a good officer.

When most of the people had settled down with their drinks and were making polite conversation, Fujita had sat down on one of the bar chairs. She had been drinking an Alvarian ale, a drink she did not usually have, and was reconsidering her steps of earlier today, trying to think of any way how she could have handled the situation better and could have saved Dickson.

Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her. ‘Captain, can I have a moment of your time?’

Fujita turned around and looked at the face of the young barkeep. ‘Of course. How can I help you?’ she responded politely.

The woman – actually, she was not much more than a girl, Fujita realized – smiled. Fujita tried to remember her name. She had met the barkeep a few times before, but they had not spoken much. Kenna, that was it. Kennelyn McIntyre.

‘I happened to pick up that this fellow – what’s his name? Christopher Anderson. Yeah, that’s right – that Christopher offered to be the new first officer.’ Kenna rested her arms on the bar. ‘I just wanted to say that I think it’s a great idea.’

Fujita pulled up her eyebrows. ‘I didn’t realize the rest of the ship knew about that?’

Kenna smiled again – a bit of a mischievous smile. ‘Oh, not everyone, just the senior officers. That’s one of the advantages of being a bartender, you happen to pick up on most of the rumours.’

Fujita made an amused chuffing sound and smirked. ‘I suppose that’s true. So, you like the man?’

‘He stopped by earlier today, he seemed like a smart man. I think he’d be right for this ship.’

Kenna was so out of place that it almost made Fujita laugh. A barkeep telling her what to do with her crew? The woman had guts, that was for sure. Or she just did not care about ranks, just like Fujita herself. Either way, it pleased the Admiral.

‘Well frankly, I _have_ been considering taking him up on his offer.’

‘Are you two fair ladies talking about me?’ Fujita quickly turned around when she heard Anderson’s voice, feeling slightly startled. The man was standing behind her, his hands behind his back and a courteous smile dancing around his lips.

‘My apologies Commander, I didn’t mean to-‘ Fujita started, but Anderson interrupted her.

‘Oh, it’s quite alright, madam. I’m interested in how this conversation is going to turn out.’

‘You mean you’re interested in my answer on your offer’, Fujita responded, pulling up her eyebrows in amusement. There was something about the officer’s over-polite manner that she knew she should despise – she could not stand arrogance – but somehow it did not bother her all too much with this man.

Anderson laughed. ‘Well yes I suppose you could put it like that.’

Before Fujita could answer, her combadge had chirped and she had been called down to Engineering by Lieutenant Ya’MogH to solve a minor problem.

\---

Fujita sighed and took a sip of her coffee, putting the memories of earlier today out of her mind. She still had to deal with Anderson’s offer. She genuinely wanted to accept it, for some reason. Something about the man forced her to trust him. But at the same time, she did not even know what he had been doing on the space station. She had looked up his files and he was indeed a Starfleet science officer, but she had not been able to find any of his postings from the past few years. He might have been working for Starfleet Intelligence, but if so, she could not imagine why he would suddenly want to be the executive officer on a star ship. Unless it was a Starfleet Intelligence mission. Though she could not imagine why that would be, either. She had decided to ignore that possibility; if it was an Intelligence mission, she could better pretend she knew nothing about it.

Fujita closed her book and put it down. She drunk the last of her coffee and then got up. It was no use putting this off any longer.


	7. Chapter 7

THE SQUARE WAS FILLED with cheering people. They were applauding and screaming, darted around like a wild-water river. The spotlights went on again and revealed Kennelyn McIntyre standing on a podium on the port side of the bar. ‘People, people, please!’ she bellowed into her microphone, a broad smile frozen on her face. ‘I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we really do have to continue to the next act!’ Her short red-blue hair danced with every word she said and her blue eyes shone happily. She was in her element, all alone on that big stage, that was clear. The crowd gradually calmed down and everyone sat down again on the chairs that had been carefully placed in rows, so everyone had a as good as possible view on the stage.

‘Ah, that’s better’, Kenna said. If it was even possible, her smile seemed to grow even wider. ‘Now, I’d like to welcome the _Starlight_ Band for their third performance. Everybody give it up for Dana Quentin, Harold McCoy, Gustaf Tremeni, Aridiya Neriouix, Jastre Ochiovik, Idony Kelhøst and myself!’

Again, the crowd went crazy. The lighting changed and six more people appeared on stage, all of them holding or sitting behind an instrument. When the audience had once again died down, the band started playing _Shut Up And Dance_ , an early twenty-first century song from Earth.

When they neared the end of the sing, virtually everyone who in the Square had gotten up and was dancing or singing along. Even Fujita – who was standing next to her daughter Captain Delia Diru-Kirk, who had come aboard for a few days while she was on leave – had gotten up.

‘This is amazing!’ Delia said loudly, a broad smile stuck on her face.

The song had ended and Kenna – after another loud round of applause from the audience – was on her own on the stage again, ending the evening by thanking some of the few people who had arranged the open stage. After she had finished, most of the audience got up and walked over to the bar to get some drinks.

Fujita and Delia had gotten up as well and walked over to a table in a corner of the Square.

‘These open stages you have set up are a brilliant idea, I never thought it would turn out this well’, Delia stated.

Fujita laughed. ‘It seemed to work pretty well on _Voyager_ , might as well have tried.’

‘I wish I’d have thought of it, it’s such an amazing way to connect the crew. I mean, most of these people have only know each other for seven months, but they seem closer than some crews are eve after a few years.’

‘Well, that’s not all my doing. This crew is just amazing’, Fujita said, but she felt a wave of pride rush through her.

‘That they are’, said a voice behind the two women, and Commander Anderson pulled up a chair. ‘Can I join you?’

‘Of course’, Fujita answered. ‘Have you two met yet?’

Delia shook her head and stuck out her hand. ‘I believe we haven’t, I’m Delia Diru.’

‘Christopher Anderson, it’s a pleasure meeting you’, the Commander said, and he shook the woman’s hand. ‘I’m the first officer of the ship.

‘Ah, Fujita’s told me about you.’ Delia smiled politely.

‘Oh, she did?’ Anderson responded while jokingly pulling up an eyebrow.

Fujita rolled her eyes but smiled. She and Anderson had gotten quite close the past four months, and they often joked around a bit.

‘But in all seriousness, Diru’, the Commander continued, ‘you managed to put up an exemplary show yet again.’

‘Oh it wasn’t my doing, you know that.’

‘Well’, Delia stated, ‘It might be that barkeep of you who actually arranges it all, but it’s still your idea. And your barkeep.’ She laughed.

‘Speaking about barkeeps’, Fujita said with a genuine grin, ‘Commander, can I get you a drink?’

‘That would be nice, thank you.’

Fujita took a last sip from her own drink and stood up. She wanted to walk away, but the remembered something and turned back around. ‘Tachalian iced tea, right?’ she asked Anderson.

‘Right madam’, the Commander said with a playful smile, after which Fujita walked away.

Anderson turned back toward Delia. ‘You’re staying on the ship for a few days?’

‘Yes’, Delia answered after taking a sip of her coffee. ‘I’d saved up some leave and I hadn’t see the _Starlight_ yet, so I was curious as to how she turned out.’

‘What do you think of her?’

‘I’m pleasantly surprised.’ Delia leaned forward and rested her head on her hands. ‘She’s so beautiful. Fujita gave me a tour earlier today. I love the Bridge, it’s so clean and efficient but at the same time quit cosy. Also, the crew seems amazing, you two really did a great job here.’

Anderson smiled. ‘Thank you very much, but it was really all Diru. I have only been here for four months.’

Delia took another sip of her drink and looked around the bar. ‘Oh, Matt would have loved to be here, I should really have brought him along.’

‘Matt?’ Anderson pulled up a questioning eyebrow.

‘Matthew, my son’, Delia answered. ‘He get’s so excited whenever he’s on a starship. And he loves seeing his grandma as Captain.’

Anderson smiled. ‘That reminds me of myself when I was younger.’

Then Fujita came back with her and the Commander’s drinks – an iced tea and a cranberry coffee. ‘Oh, he was such a cute kid’, she said with a mischievous smile.

Anderson swiftly turned around. ‘How do you know?’ he said, a bit too loudly.

Fujita laughed, put down her drinks, and said in a voice that was filled with amusement, ‘Chris, your mother is horrible. You remember that time when she came over and you weren’t back yet from that survey mission at the Terellia Nebula? Being a good host, I invited her over for dinner and she wouldn’t shut up about you! I think I’ve seen more pictures of you than you even knew existed.’ She turned toward Delia. ‘I truly hope I’ve never been like that.’

Delia laughed too and shook her head. ‘Oh, God no.’

All the while, Anderson looked pretty uncomfortable. Fujita slapped his shoulder and sat down. ‘It really wasn’t all that bad.’

Anderson shook his head. ‘I’m never letting my mother come here ever again.’ And both of the women at the table laughed again.

\---

_Fujita was standing in a vast grassland. Birds chirped around her, fireflies circled through the pitch-black sky. It was a warm, moonless summer night. There was no one around, the plains were empty except for some wildlife here and there. The silence was at the same time peaceful and eerie._

_Fujita looked around, looking for… What was she looking for? She looked up, and her eyes fell on a big bird in the sky. Wait, was it a bird? His feathers seemed made of fire, flames arose from its slowly flapping wings as it soared through the sky. One feather fell down, slowly, like a waltz. It seemed to split the sky apart, leaving behind a trail of light. Fujita looked in awe as the feather hit the ground and small fires sprout up from the grass. Smoke filled the sky as the flames grew and grew and soon covered the entire grassland, and it drove away all the wildlife. The flames neared Fujita, filled her vision until she could see nothing besides hot fire. She stepped back, but felt the heath in her back and realized she was surrounded. Flames closed in on her and–_

_\---_

Fujita was startled awake from her dream by the chirping of her combadge.

 _‘Fujita’,_ she heard Delia’s mechanic voice say.

Fujita was immediately awake as she heard the tension in her daughter’s voice.

_‘Mum, we need you on the Bridge.’_

‘What’s going on?’ Fujita had jumped out of bed and was already putting on her uniform.

_‘We’re not sure exactly.’_

Fujita felt an eerie feeling creeping up through her body. ‘I’m on my way.

\---

‘Captain, we detected an unidentified vessel in this system’, Anderson – standing over at the science station – said as soon as Fujita entered the Bridge.

‘Correction’, the Commander continued, ‘It appears to be… Vulcan.’ He looked at Fujita.

‘What is a Vulcan ship doing at the Cardassian border?’ the Admiral responded puzzled. ‘Is it on a scientific mission?’

‘There are no Vulcan expeditions registered in this area’, B.J. said.

‘Besides’, Delia added, looking at her mother, ‘it has raised its shields and locked its weapons on us.’

Fujita pulled up an eyebrow and sat down on the captain’s chair. ‘Very Vulcan-like. Hail them.’

For a moment – as lieutenant Tremeni pushed a few buttons – nothing happened. And then, nothing continued to happen, because the Vulcan ship did not respond. A moment after that though, they did respond, although not in the way they had hoped. The ship rocked as it was hit by a phaser burst.

‘Status!’ Fujita yelled over the sound of even more phaser fire hitting her ship.

‘Shields are holding’, Commander B.J. responded. ‘Should I return fire?’

‘No’, Fujita said. ‘We’ll wait for a moment and see what they want.’

Anderson turned around to face his commanding officer. ‘Captain, with all due respect, I’m getting the _slight_ impression that they don’t want to talk.’

Fujita looked at him. ‘Something is wrong here, I think I can assume that we all see that. I would rather find out what it is before we destroy this ship and possible all evidence of whatever it is that’s going on.’

Anderson nodded. ‘Alright.’

‘Commander, what system are we in?’

‘The Ulari system.’ Anderson gestured toward the planet in the far end of the view screen behind the Vulcan ship. ‘That’s Ulari III over there, an M-class planet.’

‘Why would they be here? Is there anything on the planet?’ Fujita asked, turning toward Lieutenant Tremeni.

Tremeni stayed silent for a moment while he scanned the planet surface. ‘There seems to be a base on the northern hemisphere.’

‘Can you see what’s down there?’

‘No, there is a dampening field blocking our readings.’

Fujita sighed, but before she could respond, the ship was hit by another round of phaser-fire.

‘Alright, I’ve had enough’, Fujita beamed while turning toward B.J. ‘Commander, return fire.’

The ship’s view screen was filled with the light of a phaser beam, but before it hit the enemy vessel, the _Starlight_ jolted sharply to the right.

‘Captain, a tractor beam has locked onto us from the planet’s surface’, B.J. said.

‘A tractor beam?’

‘It’s pulling us into the planet’s atmosphere.’

Fujita looked at the screen. The _Starlight_ had been built to be capable of landing on planets, so it should be able to get though the atmosphere safely. However, their shields had been damaged and could not withstand the Vulcan attacks much longer. If their failed while they were being pulled through the planet’s atmosphere, the ship would most definitely be destroyed.

‘Tremeni, can you shut down that tractor beam?’

‘I wouldn’t know how, sir’, the Lieutenant said. ‘Unless we go down there and shut it off manually.’

Fujita took a deep breath and said thoughtfully, ‘Can we create a residual energy charge in the graviton generator by modifying one of the phaser arrays to emit a meriton burst?’

‘That might work, but we have no way of locating the beam emitter as long as that dampening field is on.’

Fujita sighed. ‘And I suppose we can’t locate the generator of that either?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Maye we can reconfigure the deflector array to emit a tetron pulse that would scatter the dampening field’, Anderson chimed in, and the ship was rocked by another phaser blast.

‘That would take hours’, Fujita responded. ‘The shields would be long gone by the time it’d be finished.’

‘Mum’, Delia said while stepping closer to Fujita. ‘We could beam down to the planet’s surface and shut down the dampening field manually.’ She tugged on her uniform. ‘Though the transporters won’t work of course, but we could take a shuttle.’

The Admiral nodded slowly ‘I suppose that could work, if the shuttle doesn’t get shot down.’ She let her eyes glance over the Bridge and then looked at Anderson. ‘Commander, I know that the Captain is not supposed to leave the bridge in a situation like this, but I think we both know I would be needed on the shuttle.’

The First Officer sighed. ‘I’m very opposed to this idea, but you’re right and I know I would not be able to stop you anyway.’

Fujita smiled ruefully. ‘I trust I can leave the _Starlight_ in your hands.’ Then she nodded to Delia and Commander B.J. and walked toward the turbolift.

‘Actually, Captain’, Anderson interrupted her when she was halfway to the turbolift. ‘I think I should go along, you could use me. Commander B.J. can manage the Bridge.’


	8. Chapter 8

THE SHUTTLE ROCKED WHEN it hit the planet’s ground. It had not so much been a rough ride, they had just had to be careful with making sure not to be hit by any weapon’s fire.

Once the away team had brought the shuttle through the dampening field, finding the base with both the field and tractor beam emitter had been easy. They had landed the shuttle a few hundred meters away from the base – far enough that they would not immediately be detected if there were any people at the building.

Fujita had gotten out of the shuttle and was inspecting their surroundings. The area around them was quite flat, it was a kind of grassland with a small tree every here and there. The building was about three hundred meter on the left of the shuttle, on top of a small hill.

The Admiral turned around to face her daughter. ‘Are you detecting any life signs?’

Delia, who had her tricorder out and had been scanning the area, shook her head. ‘Nothing, just some small wild life.’

Fujita smirked. ‘That’s the first good news in what feels like a very long time.’ She turned back toward the base and tugged her uniform. ‘Let’s go.’

\---

A few minutes later, the small party arrived at the base. At first sight, the building appeared to be Orion. However, after further inspection, Fujita decided that it was actually more of a mix of designs from several different Federation species. ‘Definitely not Vulcan’, she stated, but she got little response from her fellow officers.

The group halted, and Delia scanned the area. ‘Coast’s clear’, she said.

Fujita stepped closer to the building, to something what seemed to be a door. She turned around to Anderson, who got her hint. He walked over to the door and tried to open it, using one of his special devices he always had on hand together with his AI that he called “Athena”. ‘It’s locked’, Anderson said after trying to open he door a few times.

Fujita took out her phaser and pointed it at the locking mechanism. ‘Step back you both.’

With a loud hissing, a burst of light emitted from the weapon and the door exploded. The metal surrounding what had been the door steamed for a few seconds, but the air soon cleared and Fujita, Delia and Anderson could look inside.

The hallway behind the door was not lit, but the light that streamed in from outside made that they could see inside nonetheless. The corridor ran into the building for a few meters and the disappeared into the dark with a slight curve. The walls were made of a plain metallic compound that had a colour which was just lighter than iron and was slightly yellowish, like a mix between gold and silver.

‘It’s dericol metal’, Delia said.

Anderson nodded. ‘From Betazed.’

‘The entire building seems to be a mix between the architectures of several different species’, Fujita said while she carefully walked over to the entrance of the hallway, her phaser still held outstretched in front of her. ‘Let’s go.’

They followed the hallway into the base, and after about a hundred meters, they arrived at the first door. It was the only way to continue into the building, so Fujita again blew it up with her phaser.

The door revealed a relatively small room. The power was offline – as it had been in the corridor – but Fujita could make out a few objects that looked like control panels.

‘I presume this is some kind of defensive room’, Anderson, who had walked over to one of the panels, said. He brushed his hand over the panel, which stayed dark. It gave Fujita an eerie feeling. How could their ship be tractored into the planet’s atmosphere from this base if there was not even any power?

Anderson must have been thinking the same thing, because he said, ‘It would seem to me that these panels have some way to hide their power signature to prevent intruders from using them. I think the tractor beam is controlled from this room, so – with your permission, madam – I’ll stay here to shut off the beam as soon as you and your daughter find a way to disable the dampening field.’

‘Alright, Commander’, Fujita nodded. ‘We’ll stay in contact. Be careful.’ And with that, she and Delia continued down the room, where another door was located.

\---

Delia grabbed Fujita’s arm and pulled her back. ‘You can’t go in there.’

‘Delia’, Fujita responded, gently pulling her arm away from her daughter. She looked Delia in her eyes – her deep blue eyes that shone like crystals, that could light the entire world when she was happy but that looked down far too often. A feeling surged though the Admiral’s body, and she could not immediately identify what it was. Nostalgia?

Suddenly a memory dashed through Fujita’s mind. She had been sitting on her captain’s chair on her first ship the USS _Starlight_ ¸ when her late husband James Kirk had walked in, holding the hand of three year old Delia. He had walked her over to Fujita, who had lifted her little daughter and had put her down in the chair where she herself had been sitting just a minute ago. Delia – who had always had a love for starships – was screaming with pleasure, and from that moment on, Fujita had known that her daughter would once become a captain.

Now here they stood, Captain Delia Thomas Diru-Kirk – third captain of the _Frudael_ \- and Admiral Fujita Diru – first captain of the _Starlight_. They had arrived at the door that led to the dampening field generator. There was only a this thin wall between them and saving the _Starlight_. This thin wall and a room filled with a deadly amount of radiation. There was no way for them to get rid of that radiation from outside of the room, but it was by far enough to kill whoever went into there.

Of course, Fujita wanted to go in herself. She was not about to let anyone get killed on her account. But Delia had held her back.

‘You can’t go in there’, Delia repeated. ‘Let me go.’

Fujita pulled back her hand again, and this time Delia let go. ‘There is no other way.’

Delia’s eyes were filled with fear, but she was trying to hide it. ‘There is _always_ another way, there is always a solution to every puzzle, a way out of-.’

‘Delia, we can’t waste time like this’, Fujita interrupted her daughter, and she stepped closer to the door in front of them, after which she pulled out her phaser to shoot the lock. ‘Go. Go to Anderson.’

‘No!’ Delia bellowed, taking the phaser from her mother’s hand. ‘No, Mum!’

Fujita turned around and looked at her daughter.

‘I’m not gonna let you go in there and get killed! You have an entire ship to lead, people need you.’

Fujita drew a breath. ‘So do you.’

Delia shook her head. ‘I’m not a famous icon! I haven’t saved the Federation countless times. I might be a captain, but I don’t bring hope the way you do.’ She took her mother’s shoulders I her hands. ‘I’m not _needed_ the way you are.’

Fujita bit her lip and swallowed, still looking her daughter in the eyes. ‘You have a _son_ , Delia. I’m not about to let him grow up without his mother.’ She brushed Delia’s hands off her shoulders and turned back toward the door. ‘I said go.’

But Delia stayed right where she was, her deep and strong blue eyes piercing into her mother’s back. ‘Mum, you know I’m right’, she said, her voice calm and steady.

Fujita lowered her phaser but kept facing the door.

‘You’re an admiral, I’m a captain. You’re a beacon of hope to so many people, an idol to so many young officers. You’re presence alone has an effect on this world we live in. I know you don’t like hearing it, but you are almost like a goddess to some people. Your death, how will people respond to that? Especially now with this new threat? We need you to find out what it is. We need you. _Please_ , Mum.’

Fujita turned around, her eyes focused on the ground. Suddenly, she pulled Delia into her arms and hugged her tightly. Her voice was filled with emotion as she whispered, ‘I love you’, and she knew it terrified Delia, but the woman put her arms around her mother and graciously accepted the embrace. Then, without another word, Fujita was gone and she heard Delia blasting open the lock of the door with her own phaser.


	9. Chapter 9

CHRISTOPHER WAS HASTILY WORKING the panels in the defensive control room. As he had suspected, the power had not actually been offline but had been hidden. However, he had been able to get everything working without too much trouble. Now, he was trying to find out which panel controlled the tractor beam.

He had just entered a promising program, when the door to the room opened.

‘Captain, is everything alright?’ he asked when he saw his commanding officer enter.

Diru walked over to him and started working on the panel next to him. ‘Delia didn’t need my help. What did you find here?’

Christopher felt an odd vibe coming from his captain, but he did not question it. He pointed at his console and said, ‘I believe this program controls the tractor beam, but it seems we cannot shut it off as long as the dampening field is online.’

‘Delia will have shut that down any moment’, Diru said.

Christopher looked at Diru. Something told him that the woman was not alright, but he was not sure what it was exactly. The Admiral seemed to be concentrating on shutting down the tractor beam just fine. In the four months Christopher had been onboard the _Starlight_ , he had started to get to know Diru and he had found out that the woman strongly disliked discussing her feelings. He had never seen her genuinely upset or angry – though she usually did not bother hiding when she was pissed off, and _if_ she was pissed off, you would better watch out. Diru was a straightforward woman; she would instantly tell you when she disagreed with you or if she thought you were performing your job to less than your full capacity. She would not back down from a fight, either. However, she was at the same time always considerate of people’s feelings and would never hurt someone unless she had a valid reason to do so. In Christopher’s opinion, that was one of the things that made her such a good captain. She was honest but kind.

However, Diru was also a complicated woman. Christopher hoped that there would come a time when she would trust him enough to confide in him when she was troubled. Everyone knew the horrible things the Admiral had been through, and no one deserved carrying something like that on their own.

But for now, Christopher knew better than to ask Diru what was on her mind. He looked down at his control panel again and realized that the dampening field was offline. ‘Delia did it!’ he said, and his hands quickly danced over his panel as he tried to shut down the tractor beam.

‘Yeah, she did’, Diru said, and she stepped back from her panel. Anderson turned toward her, but Diru did not look at him while she continued, ‘I-’ she paused. ‘I’ll go to her. Meet me there when you’re done here to transport back to the ship.’ And with that, she sternly walked out of the room.

Christopher noticed she had said “me”, and not “us”.

\---

Christopher walked into the room, and instantly his breath was taken from him because of the scene that was displayed before his eyes. His gaze darted through the room and a wave of panic overcame the man. Delia’s slim body lay slumped on the ground besides one of the control panels on the far left side of the room. Diru sat bent over her, seemingly frozen in time, her hair brushing from her ponytail and falling in her face. Christopher’s body trembled with shock, and for a moment his mouth failed to form the words that were stuck in his throat. He immediately knew what this scene meant, and it filled him with plain terror. Captain Delia Diru was dead.

Personally, he had not know the woman all that well. However, he knew she was considered to be one of Starfleet’s best captains and was known all throughout the Federation – and not just because of her famous mother. Besides that, in the short time the two people _had_ known each other, Delia has struck Christopher as amiably decent and fun to be around. To be frankly, Christopher had noticed a hint of rudeness – possibly even buried aggression – in the woman’s attitude, but nothing unpleasant. It saddened him deeply to see a woman as fine as this one laying dead on the filthy ground in front of him, buried in her mother’s arms.

Christopher stepped closer to Diru, unsure of what to do. He saw that his commanding officer was holding her daughter’s head in her lap, her hands stroking Delia’s golden hair, and he heard a soft whisper. ‘I’m sorry’, she was saying, barely audible. ‘I’m so sorry.’ It shocked Christopher to hear this, not being used to hearing such an utterance of emotion from his captain.

Suddenly, Diru’s shoulders rocked. Just once, then she jumped up and turned toward Christopher. ‘Commander’, she said sternly, and oddly unemotional considering the situation. The Commander knew better, however.

‘What happened?’ Christopher asked.

Diru swallowed and her deep brown eyes darted away, seemingly trying to find a place of comfort, but finding none. ‘The room was flooded with radiation,’ she started. ‘One of us had to go in.’ Then she turned back away again, tugging on her uniform. ‘We’d better transport to the ship.’

Christopher looked at the Human woman for a moment longer, trying to pierce through the emotional armour she had set around herself. She looked so strong, yet so fragile. He wished that he could take her into his arms, he wished that he could help her in any way. But all he did was nod. ‘Christopher to the _Starlight_ ’, he said after pushing his combadge, being careful not to make any kind of quiver audible in his voice – just as his Captain would have done, had she been the one talking. ‘Three to beam up.’

\---

The two of them – Fujita and Anderson – walked onto the Bridge, which was in a calm chaos; several panels were on fire and pieces of metal lay around everywhere. However, everyone was sitting at their post and the firing had stopped.

‘What’s our status?’ Fujita said to B.J., who was sitting on the captain’s chair.

The Lepori turned around and said, ‘Shields are at thirty-four percent and holding, weapons and propulsion systems are still online, and casualties are minimal.’ Then he paused for a moment and asked, ‘Captain, where is Captain Delia.’

Before Fujita could respond, Anderson shook his head in such a way that everyone on the Bridge would instantly understand. ‘Where is the Vulcan ship?’ he then asked.

‘The enemy vessel seems to have retreated’, B.J. answered.

‘Do we know who they are yet?’ Fujita said, stepping closer to the captain’s chair.

B.J. stood up and gestured for his commanding officer to sit down, which she did not. ‘They sent us a transmission.’

‘Play it.’

B.J. went over to his tactical station on the right side of the Bridge and pushed a few buttons.

For a moment, it stayed silent. Then, they heard a loud creaking, followed by the sound of a voice. The voice was incredibly low and rumbled like a Tzenkethi volcano. ‘We are the Aglaecii’, it said. ‘This territory – though yet yours – will soon be occupied. Prepare.’

‘Is that everything?’ Fujita asked as soon as the voice went silent again, and B.J. nodded.

Anderson looked at Fujita. ‘That does not sound particularly promising.’

Fujita stayed silent for a moment, looking at the viewscreen sunken in thought. She rushed a hand through her wavy brown ponytail. ‘I think we should head back to Earth, converse with Starfleet Command in person. I have the feeling we’re going to have a dangerous situation at our hands.’


	10. Chapter 10

‘HOWEVER, SHE WAS MORE than just a captain; she was a daughter, a mother, a wife and a wonderful friend.’ Fujita looked at the faces in front of her that filled the audience. Delia had never wanted a very elaborate funeral. If the funeral had been public, there might have been hundreds, maybe even a thousand people – Delia had been famous enough for that. Now, there were only some three hundred of Delia’s crew of the _Frudael_ , a few of her and Fujita’s other friends, and of course Saith Mithras – Delia’s husband – and Matthew Kirk – their nine year old son.

‘I won’t bore you with any of her childhood stories’, Fujita made an attempt at a smile and looked down, ‘but there is one thing I _will_ tell you. One time – she was about ten years old back then – I decided to give Delia her first taste of captaincy. I put her in my chair and let her give the orders. For two hours she sat there, her oh so beautiful blue eyes beaming with barely containable pleasure.’ Fujita chuffed as she remembered the beautiful day. ‘I’d known for so long that she was a born captain, but at that moment, I promise you there hasn’t been a prouder mother in the entire universe.’ She shook her head with a small smile. ‘To see her sitting there, the chair way too big for her, but giving orders like she did it every day; she was so beautiful.’ Fujita fell silent for a moment, her eyes focussed on the sky and her thoughts wandering away. ‘I’ve always been so incredibly proud of her, I suppose she hasn’t always realized. We’ve had our share of problems – most of you undoubtably know that – but it never seized to amaze me how good a captain and a person she was.’

Fujita sighed. ‘This is one of the darker days of all our lives. Of course, not all of you knew her that well, but she meant something to all of us in our own way. Whether that is as family, as friend or as commanding officer. Today, we share the same pain. But let us not just be sad. I want to ask you all join the banquet we organized and to share stories of the live of our beloved daughter, mother, wife, friend and Captain.’

\---

‘That was beautiful’, Kathryn Janeway said, pulling Fujita into a warm embrace. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

Fujita awkwardly accepted her old friend’s hug, and she heard the quiver in Kate’s voice. ‘It’s alright’, she said.

Kate pulled back. ‘No it’s not! How can you say something like that?’

Fujita shook her head and looked at the sky behind her friend. ‘Talking about how horrible it is – as you all tend to do – doesn’t make it better.’

‘Neither does bottling it up.’

Fujita looked at the fellow Admiral again. ‘Kate, I deal with things on my own way. You know that.’ She sighed. ‘Let’s get some food.’

Both of the women walked over to the tables filled with delicious food at the far end of the crowded room. Fujita looked around, taking in the faces around her. She saw the Vulcan T’Vrell – who had been Delians chief science officer on the _Frudael_ – deep in conversation with her husband Simon Jameson – the ship’s chief pilot. A bit to the left of them, Fujita saw her friends Will Riker, Deanna Troi, Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher all gathered together, having a drink. As Fujita scanned the room some more carefully, she saw more and more familiar faces; Christopher Anderson was there of course, but also Kennelyn McIntyre – who had been seen around Delia quite frequently while the Captain had been on the _Starlight_ – Captain Chakotay from _Voyager_ , Syria Whiro and Tyler Benson from the _Frudael_ , even Admiral Owen Paris had come.

Then Fujita spotted her Bajoran friend Kira Nerys standing near the drinks. The woman must have noticed that the Admiral was looking at her, because she turned around. ‘Fujita!’ she said loudly, walking over to Fujita and Kate.

‘Fujita, I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to catch up with you earlier, I-‘

Fujita interrupted the woman. ‘It’s alright, you’re here now’, she said softly, and she pulled her friend into her arms – to the great surprise of both Nerys and Kate, and frankly of even Fujita herself and mostly everyone in the room who saw them.

\---

Christopher sat in the crowded Square, waiting for the show to start. Row upon row of simple chairs had been set up, filling most of the room. The only empty spaces were the bar and the podium at the front of Ten Forward, where bright spotlights lit up Kenna McIntyre’s red-blue hair. The woman was waiting for the loud round of applause to die down, so she could announce the first act of the evening.

Christopher was seated on the first row with the rest of the senior crew. Diru had been opposed to the idea of advantaging the senior crew like this – she found that the rest of _Starlight’s_ crew was just as important – but in the past few months, the senior crew had all claimed their own chair at the front of the audience, and the rest of the ship’s personnel had respected this. However, the chair next to Christopher’s was empty.

‘Where is the Captain?’ Counselor Aridiya Neriouix – who was seated on the other side of the Commander – asked.

‘She won’t be attending, I assume’, Christopher responded. He figured his commanding officer had other things on her mind at the moment than seeing her crew perform.

‘Oh, of course’, Neriouix said, ‘I’m sorry, that was a stupid question.’

‘It’s alright, Lieutenant’, Christopher stated, turning toward the Trill next to him. ‘I suppose we all hoped to see her here today.

Neriouix looked up dreadfully. ‘It’s probably not my place to say this, but I think we’re all worried about the Captain. I don’t know her as well as I’d wish, but I _have_ noticed she doesn’t go out as much as she used to.’

‘That’s true’, Christopher sighed. Then Kenna started talking, and all eyes went up to the petite bartender. The first act was announced and the show started. Now was not the time to worry about their grieving captain, Christopher found.

\---

Fujita’s eyes darted through her darkened room, seemingly looking for something she had was lost, but not knowing what that was exactly. The Admiral was lying on her bed, her head resting in her hands and on her pillow. She was not particularly cold, but the grey blanket was folded over her legs.

When Fujita had gotten off duty earlier that day, she had – as always – token a shower and put on some more comfortable clothes. Then she had sat herself down on her couch with a steaming cup of cranberry coffee and a good book, her dog Seyvah laying merrily at her side.

However, Fujita had not been able to concentrate on the novel she was reading and had decided to call it an early night. She knew that most of her crew would be in the Square by now, where the monthly open stage was about to start. Normally, Fujita enjoyed these shows immensely – although her crew’s constant begs for her to perform on the piano could be rather annoying. Today, however, her mind had not been at it.

Suddenly, Fujita was reminded of those worriless nights on the _Enterprise_ and the _Frudael_ all those years ago, where she – yet unmarried and childless – would laugh the night away with her friends Jim, Bones and Spock – though the latter was the only one not visibly laughing, of course. They would sing and dance on old music, would eat the weirdest but most delicious foods and would play tri-d chess. It had been such endlessly joyful times, when Fujita had freely played the piano in front of her crew, occasionally accompanied by Spock on the Vulcan lute or by the singing Nyota Uhura. The crew had been like an actual family, despite the hard work, they were always having fun. Fujita’s life had been richer than it had ever been, having the best of friends, the freedom of a ship and an infinitely vast universe, and her entire life still ahead of her.

A thought came up in Fujita’s mind, and she made a decision. She got up and looked around her silent quarters, at Seyvah who was still sleeping on the couch, at her family picture with Delia and Jim on her desk. Then she walked over to Ten Forward, to Kenna McIntyre, who managed to arrange every open stage so magically. She knew she would be just in time.


	11. Epilogue

_BUT THE FIRE DIED down, and nothing but ashes remained. Ashes on which new plants would grow. Plants, trees, beautiful flowers. Which would attract new wildlife. The entire circle of life would start again. One small Phoenix feather could destroy entire worlds, burn them to the ground. And then let them start all over again. Growing on the ashes. Maybe even more fertile than before. With new chances, new hopes. A new life built on the old one; never to be the same, but possible even better. A new life, as the Phoenix feather fell down._


End file.
